Virtually since the invention of the internal combustion engine, people have been trying to boost power and/or efficiency. One option for adding power to an engine is to increase the size. Unfortunately, bigger engines weigh more and cost more to build and maintain. Thus, an often more desirable option for adding power is to make a normal-sized engine more efficient. This can be accomplished by forcing more air into the combustion chamber. Forcing more air into the combustion chamber allows for more fuel to be added as well. This results in a larger explosion in the combustion chamber and greater horsepower.
A well-known method for achieving forced air induction is to add a supercharger onto an engine. A supercharger is any device that pressurizes the air intake for the engine above atmospheric pressure. Superchargers compress the air entering the engine above atmospheric pressure without creating a vacuum. This forces more air into the engine, providing a “boost.” The additional air in the boost allows more fuel to be added to the charge, and the power of the engine is increased.
Most superchargers are powered mechanically by a belt or a chain-drive from the engine's crankshaft. Alternatively, a special type of supercharger called a turbo-supercharger (commonly referred to as a “turbocharger”) is powered by the mass-flow of exhaust gases driving a turbine. All such devices are generally fairly complex in design, increasing costs and routine maintenance requirements. In addition, such devices typically tend to extend into the engine bay of the vehicle in which the engine is located. Such space is usually at a premium for most vehicles. Thus, bulky, complex superchargers are undesirable, impractical, or even not possible in many applications.
More recently, attempts have been made to develop superchargers that utilize compression of air/fluid from within the engine crankcases chamber to assist in the forced air induction into the combustion chamber of an engine. Nevertheless, prior art systems that utilize the crankcase chamber to increase boost have encountered several disadvantages. For example, utilizing pressure generated from the crankcase chamber often causes droplets of lubricant or fuel from within the crankcase chamber to be directed into the combustion chamber. Such droplets tend to burn incompletely, leading to increased emissions of hydrocarbons, smoke, volatile organic compounds, and carbon monoxide, as well as formation of objectionable carbon deposits on the combustion chamber, piston ring, piston, and valve surfaces. Some prior art engines/superchargers utilizing crankcase compression of air to increase boost included oil separators to eliminate or reduce migration of lubricant droplets into the induction air. Nevertheless, prior to the advent of the instant inventive concept, such systems have required additional complexity and cost, and increases demands on space.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide apparatuses, systems and/or methods for increasing boost within an engine combustion chamber that is less complex, more cost efficient and/or requires less space than those of the prior art.